Adventures in North Lambton

Monday morning was spent hiking North Lambton trails in a mixed deciduous/coniferous forest. We enjoyed seeing the variety of trees. Lots of textured Red Pine Bark was on the forest floor.

A highlight of the morning was finding salamanders. The Eastern Red-backed Salamander is dependent on mature woodlands with lots of fallen logs and leaf litter. It tends to wander very little and eats a variety of small terrestrial invertebrates.

A Leadback colour phase also occurs in which the salamander is solid black or dark grey. Population densities can exceed 2,500 individuals per hectare, making the Eastern Red-back Salamander one of the most abundant vertebrates on the landscape. (Ontario Nature)

Red-spotted Newts will lay between 200-400 eggs. When they hatch, the young are called larvae. They live in the water until the fall where they transform into Efts and move to land for 2 or 3 years. Once adulthood is reached, they return to the water. (Ontario Nature)

The skin of Efts is rough, rather than smooth. These animals contain toxins in their skin that are lethal to most predators, except garter snakes. (Ontario Nature)

Our best find was a Blue-spotted Salamander; only the second one I have ever seen. It is a carnivore and prefers to feed on snails, earthworms, slugs, spiders, centipedes and other invertebrates. (Canadian Wildlife Federation)

We were able to see a Nursery Web Spider, only because it moved. The female takes exceptional care of her egg sac and guards the nursery and eggs until they hatch. The spiderlings remain in the nursery for about a week after hatching and then go out on their own. This spider does not spin a web to catch prey. It is an ambush hunter.